The Chaoyang Shuangzhong festival
The largest procession of the year in Chaoyang town. In 2026 it was the thirteenth, held on 28 March, the tenth of the second month: setting out at six in the morning from the Shuangzhong lodge before the City God temple, a circuit of the city, the palanquin resting at noon at the Lingwei temple on Dongshan, on again in the afternoon and back at the temple by half past five. Five temples each send a team, there are seventeen yingge troupes, and close to ten thousand people in the file. This page rests on reporting by local independent accounts, with no government or party-paper original seen: it is a second-hand source.
1. The date and the hours
In recent years it has been fixed on the tenth of the second month. In 2026 that was 28 March, a Saturday. The image set out at six, rested at the Lingwei temple on Dongshan at noon while each team ate where it stood, set out again at half past one, and was back at the temple by half past five; the reports carry the day through to a finish at eight in the evening.
| Year | Lunar date | Gregorian |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 10th of the 2nd month | 17 March 2027, Wednesday |
| 2028 | 10th of the 2nd month | 5 March 2028, Sunday |
| 2029 | 10th of the 2nd month | 24 March 2029, Saturday |
| 2030 | 10th of the 2nd month | 13 March 2030, Wednesday |
| 2031 | 10th of the 2nd month | 2 March 2031, Sunday |
The table is a calendar conversion, not confirmation of the date of a future edition. The date and the route are as the organisers announce them that year.
2. One line round the city
Both the start and the finish are at the Shuangzhong lodge before the City God temple, with a full circuit of the city between. In the morning it goes from the lodge by Zhongshan East Road, the riverside at Dongmen bridge, Tajiao new bridge, Guangchang junction, Nangui fang, Nanmen bridge, Zhongnan Road, Longjing junction, Mianxin Avenue, Jinye junction, Shizhu yuan, Liuyuan Road, Chengbei First Road, Beiguan Road, Pingbei bridge and Dongshan Avenue to rest at the Lingwei temple; in the afternoon from the Lingwei temple by Zhongshan East Road, Dongshan Avenue, the overseas Chinese middle school, Taoyuan shoushe, Xingong junction, Chengnan First Road, Zhongnan Road, Nanmen bridge, West Ring City Road, Ximentou and Chidu yuan back to the lodge.
The distance is given two ways: one local outlet writes 10.4 kilometres in the morning and 8.3 in the afternoon, 18.7 in all; another version of the route map notes a total of 16,228 metres, or 16.2 kilometres. Both appear in the same batch of reporting, and both are given.
3. What to watch in the file
Five temples each send a team: the Shuangzhong lodge, the Tajiao Shuangzhong shrine, the Longjing lodge, the Lingdong old temple and the Lingwei temple on Dongshan. At the head come the route marker, the Ma Su gong, the ceremonial guns and the tall lanterns, then painted lintels, lion dance, yingge, banners, flute-set music, cloth-horse gongs and drums, the robe-and-satchel bearers, waist drums and floats. The seventeen yingge troupes are the densest stretch of the whole thing. What yingge is and how it is danced is in the yingge section; the Fenggang troupe that appears here is in the team list.
The size is given two ways as well: one version writes nearly forty teams, another close to a hundred, with about ten thousand taking part. The accounts in the same batch differ, and both are given.
4. The gods and the temples
The two loyal ministers are Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan of the Tang. They held Suiyang through the An Lushan rebellion and died when the city fell, and temples were raised to them afterwards. The local account of the Shuangzhong cult in Chaoyang is that it began in the Tang, came to Chaoyang in the tenth year of Xining, 1077, and from the Jiajing reign on gradually took the form of the cultural festival held now; that is a local account, sourced as above.
Five temples carry the gods: the Shuangzhong lodge before the City God temple, the Tajiao rear shrine, the Longjing Shuangzhong temple, the Lingdong old temple and the Lingwei temple on Dongshan. The procession is organised by the committee of the Shuangzhong lodge, with each temple leading its own team, and the order and rules set by the committee that year.
On the listing: local reporting says only that it rests on the Shuangzhong cult as entered in the heritage lists, without giving the item’s name, level or batch. Chaoyang has another Shuangzhong cult at Guiyu, which belongs to the seven villages there; it is not the same item and the two cannot be cited for each other.
5. Where to stand
This is a long daytime line, walking from six in the morning to the evening, with a halt at noon at the Lingwei temple while each team eats. To see the whole file, hold the stretch at the Lingwei temple, where it stops for over an hour; for street scenes, hold Zhongshan East Road and the Nanmen bridge, where the arcades on both sides take people.
Getting there: the nearest station is Chaoshan, about forty minutes by car to Chaoyang town; several main roads in the town are closed that day, so park on the edge and walk in, and a navigation estimate excludes parking and the walk. The file moves all day, so to catch it up midway, look at that year’s route map first.
6. Sources
| Source | Body | Date | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|---|
| “The 2026 Chaoyang Shuangzhong festival is to be held; the procession teams listed” | Jinri Chaoyang (WeChat account) | March 2026 | 28 March; the tenth of the second month; the town; five temples; close to a hundred teams; about ten thousand people; the make-up of the file |
| “The thirteenth Shuangzhong festival, counting down” | Chaoyang Quan (WeChat account) | March 2026 | setting out at six; the rest at noon; on again at half past one; back at half past five; 10.4 kilometres in the morning and 8.3 in the afternoon; seventeen yingge troupes |
| “The thirteenth Chaoyang Shuangzhong procession, with route map” | Jinri Chaoyang Shenghuo Quan (WeChat account) | March 2026 | the route street by street for morning and afternoon; the resting place; the 16,228 metre total |
All three are local independent accounts, with no government or party-paper original seen; where the date and the size differ, both are given.
7. What comes next
The same city has another Shuangzhong cult, in the seven villages of Guiyu in Chaoyang, with a day chosen for it and a far smaller scale, and that one is a national heritage item: the Guiyu Shuangzhong cult, which has no page of its own yet.
Elsewhere on the site: ying lao ye: its form and the village days, Shantou routes.
Back to the Chaoshan procession calendar for all the sessions.
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Last revised: 4 November 2026